Sunday, March 21
Baton Rouge, La.
12:30 p.m.
Southern Miss
5
vs
0
New Orleans
Photo by: Sharon Ellman
Southern Miss Splits with New Orleans, No. 3 LSU
3/21/2021 5:38:00 PM | Beach Volleyball
BATON ROUGE, La. -- The Southern Miss beach volleyball team made some lineup tweaks and dropped New Orleans, 4-1, before falling to No. 3 LSU to close its weekend action.
The key change for the Golden Eagles was having Valeria Siakidou Papakyriakou/Haley Hop team up to go with Hallie Phelan/Kai Norman, a first for each of those tandems. Breleigh Favre and Olivia Hepworth also left No. 2 for 4 for the first time this year.
"We made some adjustments in our lineup in an attempt to get more production on some of the other courts," head coach Shawn Taylor said. "Whenever you make changes in pairs, there will be an adjustment period. I thought our players handled it well."
Kylie Grandy and Abbey Wilson stayed on the winning track with a three-set victory to start but were bested by LSU's Taryn Kloth and Kristen Nuss (the latter being part of CCSA's Pair of the Year in 2018 and 2019).
"Overall, we just need to be able to capitalize on opportunities," Taylor said. "Against high-caliber competition, it's hard to create opportunities to score. As we continue to improve, we are stressing more and more the importance of going for winners. Kylie and Abbey are continuing to play at a really high level. They've won six of their last eight and even the ones they lost, they had some great opportunities to pull out a win."
Southern Miss will make its long-awaited home debut Wednesday when it hosts New Orleans, Spring Hill and Southeastern Louisiana at 10 a.m., 2 p.m. and 6 p.m., respectively.
Southern Miss 4, New Orleans 1
1. Kylie Grandy/Abbey Wilson (USM) def. Victoria Corcoran/Veronica Corcoran (UNO) 21-10, 13-21, 16-14
2. Ally Carr/Maxine Walsh (UNO) def. Breleigh Favre/Olivia Hepworth (USM) 24-22, 19-21, 15-8
3. Valeria Siakidou Papakyriakou/Haley Hop (USM) def. Alexa Spartz/Brianna Vega (UNO) 21-18, 21-9
4. Hallie Phelan/Kai Norman (USM) def. Liz Gialanella/Madeline Drake (UNO) 21-16, 21-12
5. Melanie Miller/Kaylie Beck (USM) def. No player/No player (UNO), by forfeit
LSU 5, Southern Miss 0
1. Taryn Kloth/Kristen Nuss (LSU) def. Kylie Grandy/Abbey Wilson (USM) 21-12, 21-18
2. Claire Coppola/Kelli Greene-Agnew (LSU) def. Valeria Siakidou Papakyriakou/Haley Hop (USM) 21-15, 21-7
3. Toni Rodriguez/Ashlyn Rasnick-Pope (LSU) def. Breleigh Favre/Olivia Hepworth (USM) 21-18, 21-13
4. Jess Lansman/Sydney Moore (LSU) def. Hallie Phelan/Kai Norman (USM) 21-12, 21-10
5. Olivia Ordonez/Kahlee York (LSU) def. Kaylie Beck/Melanie Miller (USM) 21-16, 21-8
The key change for the Golden Eagles was having Valeria Siakidou Papakyriakou/Haley Hop team up to go with Hallie Phelan/Kai Norman, a first for each of those tandems. Breleigh Favre and Olivia Hepworth also left No. 2 for 4 for the first time this year.
"We made some adjustments in our lineup in an attempt to get more production on some of the other courts," head coach Shawn Taylor said. "Whenever you make changes in pairs, there will be an adjustment period. I thought our players handled it well."
Kylie Grandy and Abbey Wilson stayed on the winning track with a three-set victory to start but were bested by LSU's Taryn Kloth and Kristen Nuss (the latter being part of CCSA's Pair of the Year in 2018 and 2019).
"Overall, we just need to be able to capitalize on opportunities," Taylor said. "Against high-caliber competition, it's hard to create opportunities to score. As we continue to improve, we are stressing more and more the importance of going for winners. Kylie and Abbey are continuing to play at a really high level. They've won six of their last eight and even the ones they lost, they had some great opportunities to pull out a win."
Southern Miss will make its long-awaited home debut Wednesday when it hosts New Orleans, Spring Hill and Southeastern Louisiana at 10 a.m., 2 p.m. and 6 p.m., respectively.
Southern Miss 4, New Orleans 1
1. Kylie Grandy/Abbey Wilson (USM) def. Victoria Corcoran/Veronica Corcoran (UNO) 21-10, 13-21, 16-14
2. Ally Carr/Maxine Walsh (UNO) def. Breleigh Favre/Olivia Hepworth (USM) 24-22, 19-21, 15-8
3. Valeria Siakidou Papakyriakou/Haley Hop (USM) def. Alexa Spartz/Brianna Vega (UNO) 21-18, 21-9
4. Hallie Phelan/Kai Norman (USM) def. Liz Gialanella/Madeline Drake (UNO) 21-16, 21-12
5. Melanie Miller/Kaylie Beck (USM) def. No player/No player (UNO), by forfeit
LSU 5, Southern Miss 0
1. Taryn Kloth/Kristen Nuss (LSU) def. Kylie Grandy/Abbey Wilson (USM) 21-12, 21-18
2. Claire Coppola/Kelli Greene-Agnew (LSU) def. Valeria Siakidou Papakyriakou/Haley Hop (USM) 21-15, 21-7
3. Toni Rodriguez/Ashlyn Rasnick-Pope (LSU) def. Breleigh Favre/Olivia Hepworth (USM) 21-18, 21-13
4. Jess Lansman/Sydney Moore (LSU) def. Hallie Phelan/Kai Norman (USM) 21-12, 21-10
5. Olivia Ordonez/Kahlee York (LSU) def. Kaylie Beck/Melanie Miller (USM) 21-16, 21-8
Players Mentioned
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/ Beach Volleyball
/ Beach Volleyball
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